Crisis Boot Camp Agenda

Join PR News on September 15, 2014, at the historic Yale Club in New York City for an intensive boot camp will put you through the paces of crisis communications to help you avoid, or at least mitigate, the damage that can come to a brand. Our expert crisis managers will share their experiences and insights in developing a crisis plan, managing a team to execute that plan and how to guide an organization through its inevitable stormy seas.

Years of hard work in building and shaping your brand’s reputation can be undone in a matter of hours, even moments, when a crisis hits. A lapse in judgment on social media, a careless quote tossed out in mixed company, even a no-fault accident beyond human control—any of these can bring down an executive or an entire company. And no company is immune.

Detailed Schedule

8:00 a.m.8:35 a.m.

Registration & Networking Breakfast

8:35 a.m.8:45 a.m.

Opening Remarks

8:45 a.m.9:30 a.m.

Your Crisis Management Dream Team

A company with a pre-selected and well-trained team in place will weather a crisis much better than one that reacts only when trouble strikes. In this session, you will learn what makes for an effective crisis team, how to assemble a skilled group of people from within your company that you can deploy when the time comes.

You’ll learn how to:

Identify and recruit members of your team based on the skills needed to make the team effective

Battle Stations: The Critical First Hour

How your team responds during the first 60 minutes of a crisis can set the tempo for how well your brand navigates the situation. This is a vulnerable period that can be filled with emotion and misinformation that can derail your response. This session will focus on the key points to remember and stick with during that crucial hour.

You’ll learn how to:

Assess what has happened and the potential impact it will have on your brand

Deploy your crisis team in a manner that fits the scope of the situation

Determine who needs to be notified internally and how to craft that message

Prepare a public statement that shares relevant, verified information with the media

Ensure that internal and external communications remain consistent

Closely monitor and engage the media to prevent your message from getting misdirected

Networking Break

10:45 a.m.11:45 a.m.

When Your Social Media Platform Becomes the Crisis

Social media can be a tool in your crisis management kit, but sometimes it’s the source of the crisis itself. This session will explore the (often careless) ways a crisis rises out of social media, and how to contain the situation before it consumes not only your social media channels but also your whole brand.

Networking Break

As a communicator, it is not pessimistic for you to assume that facing a crisis is inevitable. In fact, it’s smart thinking to prepare for the worst even when things seem at their best. Mary Grady, managing director for media and public relations for Los Angeles World Airports, knows firsthand the value of having a plan in place ready to go at a moment’s notice. In her riveting keynote address, she will give a moment-by-moment account of how her team responded to the LAX shooter incident of November 2013—and share practical takeaways communicators can use for all kinds of crises.

Networking Break

1:15 p.m.2:15 p.m.

Interactive Clinic: How to Manage an Escalating Crisis in Real Time

Crisis management expert Dallas Lawrence will guide attendees through a one-hour interactive drill that will test your crisis skills and your instincts. This is a chance to learn what you need to lead your organization at the moment of truth. Dallas will also share some tips on best and worst social media practices.

You’ll learn how to:

Prevent or deter issues from escalating into a crisis

Evaluate emerging situations and determine what to do in the first 24 hours

Engage company employees, the media and followers on social media during a crisis

Align your messages on social media with your other crisis management efforts

Networking Break

2:30 p.m.3:00 p.m.

The Crisis Postmortem: Assessing Your Brand After the Smoke Clears

As with all aspects of PR, you need to measure your crisis management efforts to ensure that you’ve poured water on the fire and not gasoline. This session will examine how to assess the damage that your brand may have sustained and explore some ideas about how to repair its reputation.

You’ll learn how to:

Track your crisis messaging across social media platforms

Engage customers and brand advocates to address their concerns

Do proper outreach to the people most affected during the crisis

Develop methods to rebuild brand reputation and public trust

Identify and attend to elements of the company culture that may have led to the crisis in the first place

Turning Failure Into a Gateway to Success

After an intense and informative day of learning how to deal with disasters, this final session will take a different turn, exploring how to convert failure into success. There are those who maintain that success comes from hard work alone, but some of the greatest entrepreneurs past and present have maintained that success cannot happen unless you first experience failure. You will leave this session and the day knowing that whatever your brand faces—and whatever comes your way professionally and personally—you will always have opportunities for learning, rebirth and expanded horizons.

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